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A 54-year-old Nigerian woman, Alake Latoyosi, has delivered 11 babies in two batches within the space of seven days in Cotonou, Benin Republic.
According to the woman's husband, Yahaya Nafiu, the first set of six arrived on August 7, while the second arrived seven days later, on August 14, 2024.
Nafiu, the Missioner of Ilorin Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU) in Port Novo, Ajasse, and Cotonou in the neighbouring West African country, said a birth attendant took the delivery of the babies on the two occasions.
The decuplets consisted of eight males and three females, but two girls didn't make it through delivery.
The father stated that the remaining nine babies are hale and hearty but meeting the huge financial cost of caring for them and their mother has become a huge problem.
Nafiu made this known while sending home a passionate appeal for financial assistance from well-meaning Nigerians.
“A few days after the delivery of the first set of children, my wife said she felt strange movements in her stomach. After a scan was carried out at the hospital, the doctor revealed that she was carrying another set of children, which led them to contact the initial birth attendant, and the next set of five babies was delivered,” the 56-year-old husband said.
He added that the wife carried the pregnancy for three years before delivery.
Even efforts by doctors to carry out a Caesarian operation failed as the hospital could not ascertain the pregnancy position, leading to the husband attributing the experience to an evil spiritual influence on the doctors.
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Meanwhile, Nafiu revealed that he had many children before the arrival of the decuplets, while his wife also had children from her previous marriage.
History repeating itself in Ilorin
Speaking on the development, the national president of IEDPU, Abdulmumini Abdulmalik, said history has repeated itself.
Abdulmalik, who confirmed that Nafiu hails from Onikeke Compound in the Popo Giwa area of Ilorin, recalled a similar incident that happened in Kwara shortly after the end of World War 1.
“History is repeating itself in Ilorin. A few years after the end of World War 1, about a century ago, history was made in Ilorin when a woman gave birth to decuplets (10 babies at a single birth),” the IEDPU leader said.
He stated that the location of the first recorded case became loosely known as Ita Goma, the arena of decuplets, expressing his delight that an Ilorin indigene in the diaspora was again blessed with decuplets.
"While welcoming the decuplets and congratulating the parents on this uncommon blessing, we rejoice with Mai Martaba, the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji (Dr) Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, during whose reign this glorious history of an Ilorin indigene having decuplets repeating self,” he added.
Abdulmalik appealed to the government and the people of Ilorin Emirate to extend financial support to Nafiu to enable him to care for the newborns and their mother.